New Musical ROCK AND A HARD PLACE Gets Reading at The Players Theatre Next Week

The world premiere of the new, original musical, "Rock and a Hard Place," will take place at The Players Theatre on Monday, July 18th.

This concert-style Staged Reading will feature a book by Michael Ker, a cross-genre score with Music & Lyrics by Sami Horneff, and will be produced by Melissa Edelblum and Gregory Davis.

This exciting new musical merges pop, country, punk, alternative rock, and traditional theatre to tell the story of Will and Jemma, an Austin-based father and daughter musical duo grappling with the loss of their mother/wife. After accidentally being discovered at South x Southwest by a top indie record label based in Brooklyn, Will and Jemma are given the chance to make their dreams a reality. This coming of age story touches on falling in love, overcoming grief, and most importantly, finding your voice.

Several Broadway favorites are set to participate in the upcoming reading. The cast will be led by Tony nominee Constantine Maroulis (Rock of Ages, American Idol) as Paul, Asa Somers (Next to Normal, Dear Evan Hansen) as Will, and Hannah Shankman (Wicked, Les Miserables, Hair) as Eva. The reading will also star Johnny Newcomb (The Last Ship, American Idiot Broadway National Tour), Mike Eldred (Les Miserables, The Civil War), Lee Slobotkin (Wicked 2nd National Tour), Amy Decker (Phantom of the Opera National Tour), Amy Halldin, Wayne Miller, Jordan Wolfe, Danielle Nigro, and introducing Anna Mintzer as Jemma.

The dynamic score is arranged and musically directed by Michael Liepper and orchestrated by Sami Horneff, Michael Liepper, and The Rock Band (Michael Hollis, Ajay Savariau, Dan English). Lighting designed by Josh Azoulay and sound designed by Kenien Spann will also be featured, as well as artwork by Paige Nazinitsky.

This presentation of "Rock and a Hard Place" will be private and no tickets will be sold. A fully staged workshop production is aimed for early 2017.